Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News News Capitol Hill Blue and ReaderRant will recognize 28 years on the Web on Oct. 1

In a week, Oct. 1, Capitol Hill Blue and ReaderRant will celebrate their 28th-year anniversary on the World Wide Web of the internet.

It was the morning of Oct. 1, 1994, I logged on to the web and had a message that my internet provider was giving all members free space for a website, effective that day. I decided to write about 750 words in a political column about the madness in Washington, titled it "Capitol Hill Blue" and sent it out to my personal email list. I called the column "The Rant" and created a subdomain, called ReaderRant for comments and discussions.

New columns were created weekly for the last three months of 1994 before I took them weekly with accompanying news articles and photos. Those on the email list recommended the site to others and the Washington Post said it was part of a new set of websites created in the Nation's Capitol and dubbed CHB a "necessary stop for political junkies."

On Oct. 1, I will have some stories about the creation, development, and history of the sites, including the good times and the bad ones.

To quote Jerry Garcia in the Grateful Dead's "Truckin'," we can say "What a long, strange trip it's been."

My thanks to the moderators and the members who have kept this forum going as a large part of what is recognized as the longest-running daily news site on the web."

Doug

I didn't get onto the www until March 1995. Prior to that I was in college and I was using Prodigy dial-up service and accessing "Bulletin Boards."

It was the 2000 election and the (s)election of GW Bush by the SCOTUS that got me involved in politics. Prior to coming to Reader Rant, I used to post at Craigslist's Rants and Raves. I just checked Craigstlist - haven't been there for years - and it's still operational and Rants and Raves is still there.

Someone posted a Doug Thompson article on Craigslist's Rants and Raves and that's how I came to know Reader Rant and Capitol Hill Blue. That was in May of 2005. Reader Rant is a big part of my life as I don't post on social media (Facebook, Twitter, TikTok) and I really like sharing what I come across on other sites with my fellow Ranters.

Thank you for creating Reader Rant and keeping ti going as part of internet history, Doug.